'Free childcare policy is a birthday lottery'

A flagship government policy offering 30 hours of free childcare from the age of nine months leaves families facing a "birthday lottery", parents say.

As of September 2025, working parents meeting certain criteria have been able to claim 30 hours of childcare for children aged between nine months and four years.

However, Caitlin Gilbertson-Ernest, from West Yorkshire, says the system is unfair, as her funding would have started if her son Ronan had been born just 18 days earlier.

The Department for Education said its rollout of government-funded childcare was a "once-in-a-generation investment that will save families up to £7,500 a year".

Ronan was born in mid-April 2025, but will not qualify for government-paid childcare until April this year.

Gilbertson-Ernest, who lives in Wakefield, returned to work as a retail trainer in January, meaning the family requires three days of paid childcare a week.

She and her husband Matt are paying about £800 a month in the meantime.

"The free childcare will start in April when he is 12 months old," she says.

"It's about £2,400 that we are having to pay over the three months while we are waiting for the funded hours to kick in.

"Most of what I earn is just going on childcare - it has caught us by surprise.

"If Ronan had been born 18 days earlier we would have received the funded hours from January and that would have dramatically changed the costs we are having to pay now."

The policy of offering 30 hours of government-funded childcare for working parents was introduced nationally in September 2017.

The scheme has gradually been expanded to more parents and younger children.

In order to qualify for the maximum number of hours, parents each have to be working and earning between £10,158 (for those over 21) and £100,000 a year in adjusted net income.

The latest extension of the scheme was introduced in September 2025 and included babies over nine months old.

But it is triggered at the start of an academic term, meaning that babies born after the beginning of a term have to wait until the following term to qualify.

Cole Walton-Best, from Morley, Leeds, gave birth to son Luca in January and had planned to return to work in the tech industry in September.

But Walton-Best, who is biologically female and identifies as male, says Luca will not qualify for the free childcare hours until January 2027, when he is 12 months old.

The family have decided that Walton-Best will not return to work until then, meaning an extra three or four months out of the workforce.

“We are missing out financially and in terms of my career itself, I am having to take additional time off, time off that is important to me as a working parent that really cares about their career," Walton-Best says.

"It feels like a birthday lottery, you can't help when your children arrive.

"It does feel like there is an advantage in some way depending on when your child has their birthday."

Rebecca Horne, from the Pregnant Then Screwed charity, said: "Parents hear nine months, but it is actually nine months plus whatever time there is until the next term starts.

"If your baby turns nine months after the term cut-off, even by a few days, you are locked out until the next term and that can mean waiting until your baby is 12 or even 13 months old."

Horne, head of communications and campaigns at the charity working against parental discrimination, added: "For some parents you have planned your return to work around the promise of that support and it is a huge shock.

"They have budgeted, they have arranged childcare and then suddenly they are told, 'hold on, you are going to have to self fund for a few months', and it is a gap that does blindside parents and it does push them out of work."

Many parents have to register for a nursery before their baby is born to stand a chance of getting a place, she says, adding that UK childcare fees are some of the highest in the world.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "Since September, over half a million families have benefited from the rollout of 30 hours of funded childcare - a once-in-a-generation investment that will save families up to £7,500 a year.

"As with school places, children become eligible from the start of the term after they turn nine months.

"We recognise waiting a term can feel frustrating, but termly start dates allow councils and nurseries to plan staffing and places properly, ensuring provision is sustainable and available for families each term."

They added: "We know parents want the system to be clear and straightforward, which is why we are leading a review of childcare provision to simplify access and improve how the offer works for families."